Arn Anderson thinks the nWo should have been left at four men, and that every addition after that took something off the group.
Anderson was talking about February 1997 on the latest episode of ARN, at a point where the faction had already begun expanding well past the three men who started it at Bash at the Beach the previous summer.
“Nothing against Randy, but I would think that we had a lot more legs if it would have just stayed Hall, Nash, Hogan, and the Giant, and they would have been a big enough force for just those four guys. Because each time you added a guy, you know, God bless him, DiBiase, brother, whatever you want to call him, Vincent.”
“Those four would have been able to keep their heat, just push the Giant harder. Because each time you added a lesser guy, it just watered the nWo down.”
Anderson spent those years on the other side of it as a Horseman, in the group WCW positioned most directly against the nWo.
His read matches the one Eric Bischoff gave this week. Speaking on 83 Weeks after SummerSlam, Bischoff said he nosedived the nWo himself by growing it too big, that the Wolfpac and the various derivatives diluted its significance, and that WWE risks doing the same thing to the Bloodline by riding it out rather than finding a new direction or an ending.
The conversation moved on to WCW leaning on established names on pay-per-view rather than pushing its younger roster, at a time when Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero were on the same cards. Anderson defended the reasoning without pretending it came free.
“Well, you had to have some name value, and you had to blend in these young guys, make sure there was a clear separation. I think that there will always be a place for name value, name recognition, wherever it is. If it’s for a signing or it’s a personal appearance or whatever it is, if you don’t know who that guy is, you’re not going to go.”
“It’s different having matches because you got to think about why this guy’s a little, you know, up in years. He’s 50. We’re going to have to put a guy with him that’s 25 to work around him, and that’s all considerations.”
On whether age matters as much now, with Brock Lesnar having confirmed his retirement this week at 49 and AJ Styles having stepped away in January, Anderson said the number itself tells you very little.
“I think everybody’s different. There’s an age that’s a number, and there’s a real age, that your body’s…”
The nWo split into rival factions in 1998, a decision that has been criticized ever since, including by Bischoff.
